Hasbro CEO Says Everyone's Doing it, so They Need to use Generative AI to Keep Up
Hasbro CEO Says Everyone's Doing it, so They Need to use Generative AI to Keep Up
"We will deploy [AI] significantly and liberally internally."
You should never support the scumbags at Hasbro/WOTC if you are into tabletop games
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Well to be fair, Hasbro is just a small startup. Of course they need AI to level the playing field with the other mega conglomerate in the board game space.
I'm just really hoping that whatever they intend to use AI for isn't art. Ideally there is enough backlash to this that they backpedal again for a year or so, but failing that, I do not want to see it touch the art at all.
In my opinion, WotC is an art company. I don't really see anything better in 2024 D&D 5e to what is expected in Tales of the Valiant 5e or is in Level up Advanced 5e, or for that matter, any RPG really. The only thing they excel on is the money behind them to have an entirely different relationship with artists. And that's not mentioning Magic the Gathering which needs the art even more.
There aren't that many avenues for AI in D&D. You can't really replace the game design due to the fact that AI can't really problem solve or innovate. It's already likely used internally by the finance departments etc, hell it's built into Microsoft programs, it course it is used. It can't really be sued to make the writing more efficient because the writing of a D&D book is sacred, you can't change the word prone to lying down for readability for example.
So it's likely coming for art or WotC are returning to the idea of AI DMs, which is silly and I have no interest in, and I can't imagine it being anything but a totally adjacent product to D&D.
I can't wait to see what evil and terrible way I'm proved wrong.
Of course the magic cards arts will be the first thing they will use AI for. I have any doubt.
I actually doubt it. 30% of all of Hasbro's revenue comes from WotC (I've heard higher than 50% before, but a quick Google says 30%). Of that I've heard people say as high as 90% of WotC's income comes from Magic: The Gathering.
Artists are paid a set rate, not commission for their art, but thousands of cards are purchased at very little cost to WotC. It's a golden goose that is literally keeping Hasbro afloat, they'd be fools to touch the operations of MtG with a 10ft pole, nevermind replace it's core with AI.